"Rumba Is My Life" 1948 CUGAT, Xavier (SOLD)
Price on Request
[210] pp.
Didier
1948
9 1/2" x 6 1/4"
VG/ VG
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"Here, revealed for the first time, is the exciting and glamorous story of one of the outstanding entertainers of the day - Francisco de Asis Javier Cugat Mingall de Bru y Deulofeo!-in other words, Xavier Cugat, the King of the Rumba, in person." "Here, among the warmhearted entertainment world and its gifted people, is the behind-the-scenes Cugat career. Here is the young Xavier as first violinist with the Teatro Nacionales in Havana, dressed in the black velvet suit which is the trademark of the prodigy; or mischievously drawing a caricature of Enrico Caruso at a sidewalk café, a little act which was to produce the turning point in his career, for it was his friendship with the immortal Caruso which brought Cugat to the United States." "Once established in New York he worked increasingly in an attempt to reach eminence as a virtuoso. He diligently studied Bach and gave two Carnegie Hall recitals-but that was to be the end of his career as a rival to Heifetz, for it was a different type of music which touched the hearts of his audiences: the music of Latin America which he interpreted in such a unique way. From then until the present day, he has dedicated his career to the greater understanding and popularity of Spanish music. And now he is known the world over as the greatest exponent of modern Spanish dance rhythms, playing before thousands of people, and entertaining millions over the air and in the moving pictures." "More than just an account of a brilliant career, this is the human story of a great personality and musician, told with tenderness and scintillating humor, punctuated by the inimitable Cugat caricatures."